The word from abroad is that after his spell on loan finishes in the summer that Mikey Johnston is coming back to Celtic.
He started very well out there for his club Vitoria Guimaraes and, indeed, their manager rates him … but they aren’t going to try to keep him because they know it’s not possible.
He’s either too expensive or Ange wants him home.
Imagine that’s the case.
Imagine Ange Postecoglou has told this kid to come back when the loan spell is done. He does rate Mikey, he gave him a new deal before he went off to Portugal, in a move that surprised a lot of us but probably should have.
The Vitoria manager speaks highly of him, and the very traits he mentioned are the sort that Ange values most highly in his footballers.
“We have to enjoy him until the end of the season. He is a great player, an extraordinary professional who helps the group. Unfortunately, Vitória will not be able to keep him. As a manager, I have seen a very rare thing that we are not used to in football. When he is substituted, he apologizes for the performance when the game does not go well for him. ‘Sorry, this is not my football, I am very disappointed,” he said.
That’s interesting, right? Mikey always pushes himself to do more and be better.
Those are the things that would most endear him to a manager like Ange, that and the fact Mikey his definitely a player with a high skill set, maybe just not high enough at the current time to play for this club.
But in another three or four months? Who knows?
Ange sees a place for him, that much is almost certain.
But we have so many good players who can function out wide right now. As a squad player, yes, you can see Mikey filling a role but he will have to come back a pretty special footballer to be a regular.
That’s something else I expect all concerned know already, and if the kid thinks he’s ready for that and if Ange thinks he’s ready for that then we might just see the Mikey Johnston we always knew was in there and have been waiting to see emerge.
I hope you’re right James but I get the feeling the new contract was to ensure we get a transfer fee when he does go. I reckon Ange will chuck him in for a few games to assess then punt him if he doesn’t cut the mustard. I don’t think Johnson will be one of those guys perpetually out on loan til the end of a contract, he has too much top team and Euro experience and we’ll be looking for cash money for the lad…
Don’t know if ah agree wi the ‘WE always knew was in there’ part. Countless players have come and gone showin the same potential and never cut it. Imo he has decent skill, tho never near enough end product in all the opportunities he’s had at Celtic. Things can change ah know that, tho ah just don’t see it in him. No so far.
It could be the case that Mikey will develop into a wonderful player. He just wasn’t going to get the time to do that at Celtic because of 1) our impatient supporters and 2) the media who would take great delight in calling him out as a lightweight.
Didn’t we loan out Liam Miller to a Danish team and then bring him back and he was turning into a proper player for us before Roy Keane persuaded him to ditch Celtic and head to Man Utd on a free? OK – it was all downhill after that. But MON could have turned him into a star, I am sure of it. That game he played against Lyon at CP in the Champions League, he was fantastic.
Ability was never his problem, injuries set him back, hope when he comes back he can stay injury free.
Well how much time dae ye want tae give him ? He had more chances tae prove himself than a lot of players get and it never seemed he was makin any progress. Guess we’ll soon find out if he’s improved and if he has, then deserves the credit and the chance.
He is too greedy and selfish to be part of our squad.
It is a team game.
He might have been when you last saw him play. When was that?
Why loan him out if Ange thinks he is a good player, and then sign a replacement for him once he is gone, it doesn’t add up, he is obviously surplus to requirements.